New York, March 30, 2010 - Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Mr. Sha Zukang presided at a briefing on the future of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) at United Nations Headquarters in New York today.

Mr. Sha noted his early interest in Internet Governance, observing that he was the first to raise the issue of Internet Governance at the U.N. By way of background, and perhaps responding to some suspicion arising from his former position as China’s Ambassador to the U.N., Mr. Sha emphasized that today he speaks as a U.N. employee.

After these brief comments Mr. Sha read a six page statement about the process that might lead to the IGF’s continuation, interspersed with personal observations. In my role as reporter, I’ve transcribed portions of Mr. Sha’s report, beginning on page 3, after the IGF history notation, under the heading “How The Review Process Will Unfold.”

After his prepared statement, Mr. Sha took comments from Yemen, EU, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Canada, U.S., U.K., France, Norway, ICC and then offered some concluding statements. See the full meeting report here.